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December 20, 2011-- Hershey’s, Dole, Wal-Mart and Philippine Airlines top ILRF’s list of the “Worst Companies to Work for if You Want the Right to Join a Union,” according to a new report released today by the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), a leading labor rights watchdog based in Washington, DC. The corporations on ILRF’s list use intimidation and sometimes violence, in the U.S. and abroad, to violate workers’ internationally recognized right to organize.

US Gov Spends Billions Each Year on Secondary Products Like Chocolate and Uniforms Potentially Made with Exploitative Child Labor; Groups Seek to Close Loophole and Prevent Contractors From Potentially Selling Goods Made with Forced Child Labor to Gov

12/06/11

This week a coalition of twenty-four organizations representing organized labor, religious communities, socially responsible businesses, and consumers shared with the US Department of Labor a vision on how the US Government could do more to ensure that taxpayer dollars don’t support forced child labor.

Hershey customers aim to "scare" the company into using fair trade cocoa by Halloween

HERSHEY, Pa. -- Hershey customers and ethical cocoa advocates delivered more than 100,000 petition signatures to Hershey's corporate headquarters today calling on the company to commit to buying ethically produced cocoa.

San Francisco, CA-- Free2Work today announced the launch of App 2.0, the latest iteration of the powerful consumer information platform for iPhone and Android, increasing transparency in supply chains worldwide.

The mobile application equips consumers with valuable information on companies’ labor standards and production practices at the moment they need it most – while they shop.

MALTESERS® to carry the FAIRTRADE Mark in UK/Ireland in 2012, Mars to provide more than $1 million annually in Fairtrade Premiums to farmers' co-operatives in West Africa

MT. OLIVE, N.J. and BONN, Del., Sept. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Mars Chocolate and Fairtrade International today announced a new agreement to introduce the first Fairtrade labeled Mars product and to work together to enable farmers to have sustainable livelihoods and substantially increased productivity.

Washington, D.C. —United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk today announced that the U.S. is taking the next step in a dispute regarding the Government of Guatemala’s apparent failure to effectively enforce its labor laws by requesting the establishment of an arbitral panel under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). The United States requested formal consultations in July 2010 regarding the issues in this case.

The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) is pleased to welcome Judy Gearhart as the organization’s new Executive Director following former director Bama Athreya’s transition to the Global Works Foundation. ILRF will continue to strengthen its efforts to promote just and humane treatment for workers worldwide under the new leadership of Gearhart.

We have received confirmation that Kalpona Akter, Babul Akhter, and Aminul Islam of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) were released from the Dhaka Central Prison by the Bangladeshi authorities at about 10pm Dhaka time September 10th, at the start of the Eid Festival which marks the end of Ramadan. Their release was secured following the granting of bail on all charges during a special hearing by a magistrate judge on Wednesday, September 8. Upon their release, the BCWS leaders expressed a “heartfelt thanks” to all who have supported them.

Washington, DC – As excitement grows for the upcoming FIFA World Cup beginning shortly in South Africa, there is a part of the World Cup that many sports fans will not see. The workers stitching soccer balls in Pakistan, India, China and Thailand continue to experience alarming labor rights violations even 13 years after the soccer ball industry signed the “Atlanta Agreement” committing to clean up the industry.

7 June 2010: As the frenzy grows over the upcoming FIFA World Cup in South Africa, there is a part of the World Cup that won’t be broadcast on TV. The Play Fair Alliance today asked FIFA to respond to the report “Missed the Goal for Workers: the Reality of Soccer Ball Stitchers”, released by US-based NGO International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) on 7 June.

Hanesbrands was originally identified on the 2009 Sweatshop Hall of Shame; however, in recent dialogue with the company, ILRF has come to believe that in fact Hanesbrands may be a leader in cotton traceability.

There is no let-up in the extreme violence facing trade unionists in Guatemala. The ITUC has once again strongly condemned the murders in October and November of two members of the Guatemalan labour, indigenous and campesino movement, MSICG.

The ITUC has denounced and strongly condemned the murders of art teacher Zorayda Cortés López, who worked at the Higher Technical Institute of Pereira, the capital of Risaralda, and Leny Yanube Rengifo Gómez, a teacher and active member of the Cauca education workers’ union, Asociación de Institutores y Trabajadores de la Educación del Cauca – ASOINCA.

It is unacceptable and a cause for grave concern in the trade union movement that 195 teachers have been assassinated in Colombia, without a single arrest being made, and that 35 trade unionists have been killed this year alone.

On the occasion of the UN International Day on the Elimination of Violence against Women, the ITUC and affiliates in a range of countries are organizing activities to say “no to violence against women and girls” and to mobilize against the impunity of that violence around the world. These activities are taking place in the context of the UN Secretary-General’s campaign ‘UNiTE to End Violence against Women’ and the Global Unions Campaign ‘Decent Work, Decent Life for Women’.